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Below are excerpts of a longer interview with the photographer Nancy Rexroth. Her work investigates the world translated through the camera lens in ways that create an emotional experience that transports you to an “other” personal world that the artist has equated with her memories from childhood. But this work does not exploit the cloying nostalgia of childhood, rather it examines the essence of light, emptiness, and off-kilter memories with a vision that is both gorgeously awkward, and that refines the imagery to essential impressions of time, feeling and experience.

Nancy Rexroth: I was in graduate school at Ohio University in 1969. The courses were very technical for me, and we were studying the Zone System. I was so frustrated with it ALL, all things technical. An instructor had discovered the Diana in Chinatown, New York, and brought it back for use in the beginning photography classes. I saw him use the camera, and I realized that he had somehow loosened up……and he was almost silly while using the camera….

That’s one thing I love about Iowa. The photos feel very loose and spontaneous.

I bought a Diana, experimented for two weeks or so. I made a number of unremarkable photographs with it. At one point, I made an interior photo of a woman’s bed. After that image, I just got into a groove of feeling, with the camera…….And I continued…

A Woman’s Bed · Logan, Ohio · 1970

So at that point you shot exclusively Diana and gave up other cameras?

Yes, I was mostly using the Diana from then on. Although I did have a few other projects after that: Platinum prints of 4X5 head shots of women, and later on using the “Polaroid SX-70 Transfer” method. In 2000, I also experimented with color imagery, using a cheap digital camera called the Digipix. I do feel that my work with the Diana is my best, so far. I keep my Nikon camera around, and use it for snapshots of friends.

He Demonstrates · Ironton, Ohio · 1974

I do want to make it clear here that my main attraction to the Diana was the sort of images I could make with it. The fact that it was a toy camera was not the striking draw at all, for me. I quickly began seeing the Diana as just another camera, nothing but a tool. I have always wondered why people get so into the Diana camera, and obsess over the cuteness, and the retro-ness of the camera. I guess the Diana can easily be a gimmick. And this makes it hard to fashion something original with the camera.

It has become a cult sort of camera. I remember about 15 years ago, I was using my Diana camera in a park and someone said “Oh yes, the cult of the Diana,” and they sounded quite scornful. I didn’t really respond because, well, IT IS a cult….

So when you made the Iowa photos you were in some state of heightened consciousness? Being pulled along and elevated by the camera?

Yes, but please note, it was not the camera but what could be done with it. I was never in love with the Diana. And over time, I found that Iowa could be anywhere, for me……Iowa was a state of mind.

Children and Leaves · Shawnee, Ohio · 1974

As I understand it, a place from your childhood? Were you making the Iowa photographs with an eventual book in mind, or did the book come later?

No, a book was not in my mind until I had worked with the camera for at least 5 years. I had made those images, not caring, or knowing why I was using the camera. I applied for a National Endowment grant, and realized that my “project” needed a name. Somehow I thought of the name Iowa, because I could identify that….(click here to read the full article).

Group Portrait · Albany, Ohio · 1974

Full disclosure: Nancy Rexroth is my aunt. So while that may open me up to charges of bias, I will still assert that that in no way changes the fact the she is one of a handful of significant and influential photographers who’s pioneering work in the 1970s (which just happened to use a then relatively unknown camera in an innovative way) has left an indelible mark on the photography /art world.

Article reprinted from TreeHugger.com
by Jacob Gordon, Nashville, TN on 11. 5.09
DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE
When Trek unveiled the Lime back in 2007, the mission was to bring delightful, non-threatening biking to grown-ups. Some nice validation came last week when the Lime won the 2009 People’s Design Award, a subcategory of the prominent National Design Awards. A simple city bike with an upright riding posture, the Lime uses Shimano’s Coasting automatic three-speed transmission (a pretty complex system with a very simple user interface) and a back-pedal brake rather than hand levers. The mid-priced bike also packs a clever storage compartment into the bike’s seat with enough room for keys, cell, and grocery money.

The National Design Awards happen each year at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in Manhattan. Winners of the People’s Design Award are chosen by public online voting. The Trek Lime cruised over almost 200 other nominees, including the iF Mode full-size folding bike from Areaware, the Dyson Air Multiplier, and upcycled umbrella raincoats for dogs.

From December 7th to December 18th, world leaders will gather in Copenhagen for the U.N. Climate Change Conference and will work to negotiate a treaty to reign in global warming. Climate change organizations 1 Sky and 350.Org are finding ways for individuals to make a difference by hosting an International Day of Climate Action.

On Saturday, October 24th, join thousands of communities in 140 countries to highlight the need to reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, the upper limit of what climate scientists tell us is safe.

Potential events include a rally, a party, or any other action. The key point is to incorporate the number “350″ into a very visible sign or banner. Gather with your friends and family to take a picture, and the photo to 350.org so they can show the power of your actions to President Obama and key swing Senators.

Currently running; this play (with possibly one of the longest titles in recent recorded history) is by one of the seminal Chicago playwrights of our town, MIckle Maher, and played by the always enigmatic Colm O’Riley.
Highly recommended by friends and critics alike. Give Oobleck a try if you haven’t before.

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM
September 25 through October 24
Chopin Theatre / 1543 West Division, Chicago
Tickets are $12 or pay-what-you-can–
and, as ever, free if you’re broke
call 773-347-1041 for reservations or see theateroobleck.com for more.